door of inspiration, all cleaned up now

This is the freshly cleared Door of Inspiration.

As you can see, Eric and I are thinking through new

paint colors for our room. Very inspiring!

Before I cleared the mess, I had fallen into using

my door as a catch-all for organizational items,

fun visual ideas, and a magnetic way of not losing

the Things-That-Must-Not-Be-Lost, such as jury duty

summons, doctor appointment referrals, etc.

This was very effective, and I may need a new

Perfect System so that I can replicate its usefulness

and not start losing the Things-That-Must-Not-Be-Lost.

Otherwise, what will become of me? I will be Very Frustrated.

The Door of Inspiration, also shown here,

was one of my responses to reading The Artist's Way

by Julia Cameron a few years ago. It's where I supposedly

post visual scraps of inspiring paraphernalia so that I

can keep them in view and in mind as I go about my days.

door of desperation

As you can see, my door of inspiration has

turned into a door of desperation.

I hope to remedy this soon. More tomorrow!

blog adjustments

Hiya, peeps! You may have noticed that I've been having trouble
with my bloggy background. I'm attempting some adjustments
and hope to eventually develop a really snazzy background of
my own with a super nifty banner across the top.
In the meantime, I'm going with the basic "minima stretch." Sounds

exciting, doesn't it? Now if I can just learn everything about computers,

html, and photoshop that I've been putting off all this time....

it's official

Christmas is over.

cheesecake

I was so happy to find yet another application for the

flowers I've been doodling when I decorated this

chocolate cheesecake! And they tasted great!

green

This one's a birthday gift for a friend. I really don't prefer to take

this particular Scripture out of context, because what it's saying

is the result of what comes before it:

Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.

Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!

Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness,

and the darkness around you will be bright as noon.

The Lord will guide you continually,

giving you water when you are dry

and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like an ever-flowing spring.

Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls

and a restorer of homes.

(Isaiah 58:9-12)

I just love this whole picture of the restoration of a society.

Anyway, the idea I wanted to communicate in this little painting was

about how this friend has a home and a family and other people

she tends to -- her little garden. So there it is.
Oh - and you may have noticed that this was inspired by
this journal entry from last week.

three canvases

These three little (4"x6") canvases are happily peering at me from the bookshelf lately.

What will they become?

new year's cleaning

My friend Tamaki is from Japan, and she says that before the
Japanese New Year, people undertake a cleaning process
around their homes which is similar to spring cleaning.
I really like this idea of getting the old cleared and the new
prepared at the beginning of the year. Also, it's 60 degrees here,
which makes it much better cleaning weather than the 85-90
we get when it's time for spring cleaning. So we've been
doing some good scrubbing lately, including this refrigerator wash down
that got us back to where we were pre-Thanksgiving.
And ready to fill up again. Hello, Costco!

long walk

ashton's ornament

Happy New Year!